1908.] 



ROUTES TRAVERSED MACKENZIE. 



121 



similar but broader point stretched out into the lake ahead of us. 

 We rounded this and encamped in a sandy bay just beyond. (See PL 

 XVI, fig. 1.) 



At our camp (see PI. XVII, fig. 1) the country was fairly level 

 and was sparsely wooded with spruce, which was much dwarfed and 

 twisted on the wind-swept shores, but farther back attained a diameter 

 of 2 feet and a height of 50 feet. Large areas were nearly barren 

 from the nature of the soil, but usually a carpet of Dryas integrifolia 

 and various mosses, or dense masses of crowberry {Empetrum 

 nigrum) , covered the ground. Willows {Salix alaxensis and S. retic- 

 ulata) grew in favorable places along the shore and on the banks of 

 the small streams. Several small muddy ponds (see PI. XVI, fig. 

 3), about which were lingering a few of the latest sandpipers, lay 

 near the shore of the bay. 



We remained at this camp until the morning of September 8, de- 

 tained during the first few days by high winds, and latterly by having 

 to dry and bring to camp the flesh of a moose which the Indian 

 fortunately killed. On September 8 we loaded our canoe and started 

 westward along the coast, which was rocky and nearly barren. About 

 noon we were forced by wind to run ashore, and took refuge in a 

 small bay behind a low wooded island. This was the first place we 

 had seen since leaving our camp in the morning where the spruce 

 and tamarack woods approach close to the shore. 



The next day, September 9, we sailed all the forenoon westward 

 along the coast, passing half a dozen barren rocky points inclosing 

 sandy bays, the heads of which were well wooded. In the afternoon 

 we passed Leith Point and turning southwestward crossed a deep 

 bay, passing inside a series of low rocky islands, and entered Mc Vicar 

 Bay shortly before sunset. Grizzly Bear Mountain, across the bay, 

 was capped with a light snow. 



On September 10 we crossed a deep bay and reached the extremity 

 of a low point or island from which we were to cross the mouth 

 of Mc Vicar Bay. The wind, however, was unfavorable for attempt- 

 ing the dangerous traverse, and we landed near by to wait for a calm. 

 About 4 o'clock in the afternoon the wind had nearly died down, and 

 we struck out for the low rocky island which lies midway of the pas- 

 sage. We paddled steadily and reached it in fifty minutes^ the 

 distance thus being about 4 miles. From the island we covered the 

 remaining stretch, about 4 miles northwestward, to the low, barren 

 rocky point which terminates the immense peninsula of Grizzly 

 Bear Mountain. Beyond we passed several small rocky points and 

 encamped in a bay where the spruce woods approach close to the 

 shore. The beaches here are of sand and gravel and rise quite steeply 

 from the water. Back of our camp a level park-like area, with a 

 sandy soil which supported a fair growth of white spruces, stretched 



